To operate an early childhood education and care service in NSW and before you apply for service approval, you will need to hold a provider approval.

Under the National Law and Regulations, the NSW Department of Education, as the NSW Regulatory Authority, has a 60 day timeline for assessing applications for a provider approval.

When you have a provider approval, you need to confirm which regulatory framework applies to the type of service you plan to operate. This will help you understand how to apply and what information to provide.

Family day care, long day care, out of school hours care and preschools are service types that are regulated under the National Quality Framework. Applications for a service approval for these service types must be made via NQA ITS.

Occasional care and mobile services are service types regulated under the Children (Education and Care Services) Supplementary Provisions Act 2011 (NSW) and Children (Education and Care Services) Supplementary Provisions Regulation 2019 (NSW). Applications for a service approval for these service types must be made by submitting the relevant form to the NSW Regulatory Authority.

Read more about the different types of early childhood education and care services.

Family day care, long day care, out of school hours care and preschools

For family day care, long day care, out of school hours care and preschools, a service approval authorises the approved provider to operate an ECEC service under the National Law and Regulations. For an approved provider to operate a service, the service must be approved.

Service approvals for these service types are submitted through NQA ITS.

The resources below will help you understand what is needed to apply for service approval:

• Checklist for long day care, out of school hours care and preschools (excluding public preschools) (DOCX 448 KB)
• Checklist for family day care (DOCX 313.1 KB)
• Checklist for public preschools (DOCX 446.6 KB)

Visit ACECQA for more information on how to apply and to access NQA ITS.

Occasional care and mobile services

For occasional care and mobile services, a service approval authorises the approved provider to operate an ECEC service under the State Regulations. For an approved provider to operate a service, the service must be approved.

To submit a service approval for occasional care, mobile services and Multipurpose Aboriginal Children's Services (MACS), visit our webpage for the relevant forms.

Applying to offer the Child Care Subsidy (CCS)

The CCS is the main way the Australian Government helps families with ECEC fees. There are 4 ECEC service types that can administer CCS:

• centre based day care
• outside school hours care
• family day care
• in home care.

If you plan on running a service that offers CCS you will need to apply through NQA ITS. This can be done at the same time as your service approval application.

The Australian Government does not have an estimated assessment timeframe for CCS approval. However, they cannot grant CCS approval until you have a service approval.

More information about this process can be found on the Australian Government website.

Transferring service approval for an existing service

Although a service approval application and/or an application to transfer an existing service can be submitted before the provider approval application has been finalised, these applications will be cancelled if the outcome of the provider application is refused. This applies to service approvals submitted either under the National Law and Regulations, or State Regulations.

The NSW Regulatory Authority will validate a service approval application to ensure all prescribed information is received.

If an application does not include all the prescribed information, the NSW Regulatory Authority will advise in writing the information needed to commence assessment of your application. If you do not submit this information within 14 days of the request, the NSW Regulatory Authority may invalidate the application.

Application assessment

Once all prescribed information has been received, this information is assessed.

Under the National Law and Regulations, the NSW Department of Education, as the NSW Regulatory Authority, has a 90 day timeline for processing service approval applications. This timeline is paused if we need to ask for further information to assess an application.

The NSW Regulatory Authority may undertake enquiries and investigations, including any enquiries about previous approvals, regarding the history of compliance and quality of other services under any provider approval, and an assessment of policies and procedures for the proposed service.

The NSW Regulatory Authority applies a risk-based approach to the approvals process. Part of this process may require the person(s) with management or control to attend an online knowledge assessment and/or interview with NSW Regulatory Authority staff.

Pre-approval visit

Following receipt of all the prescribed information and an assessment of the service application, a pre-approval visit may be arranged to inspect the service premises.

At this stage, all construction must be complete, and the service must be ready and equipped to provide education and care.

The pre-approval visit is to ensure the premises are safe and children have a quality learning environment. More information is provided to each applicant about what will be inspected when the visit is being arranged.

The department aims to make a decision on all applications as soon as possible and within 90 days of receipt of a complete application. The department strongly encourages applicants to factor in the maximum timeframe in their planning.

An existing service approval can be transferred between 2 approved providers under Division 3 of the National Law. However the NSW Regulatory Authority may intervene in a transfer if it determines there are risks as outlined in section 62(1) of the National Law.

Subject to the service approval process, the NSW Regulatory Authority may either grant or refuse an application for a service approval under Section 48 of the National Law.

If a service approval application is refused by the NSW Regulatory Authority, the approved provider may seek an internal review of the decision within 14 days of being notified of the outcome. The timeframe to determine this review is within 30 days of receiving a complete application.

If the approved provider is not satisfied with the result of the internal review, the approved provider may seek a review from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Other than the regulations concerning an ECEC service, you will need to ensure you are familiar with other requirements that may impact your service – these include but may not be limited to:

• local council and DA requirements
• health and food handling requirements
• obligations under the Office of the Children’s Guardian
• work health and safety requirements
• delivery of educational programs under the approved learning frameworks
• obligations under the Family Assistance Law if you offer CCS
• obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 including reasonable adjustments.